F1 News
"Tough experiences" will help George Russell become a stronger F1 driver
George Russell insists his "tough experiences" at Williams will help him become a stronger driver as he progresses in his career. The 21-year-old made his Formula 1 debut at the start of the 2019 season and it wasn't the start Russell was dreaming off.
It all started to go wrong before a wheel was turned. Williams arrived at pre-season testing late and then when they started to run, their pace was well off the mark for a second year running.
The Brit was the only driver not to score a point in the 2019 season, but he did out-qualify his teammate Robert Kubica at all 21 events. As if being parked at the back of the grid wasn't easy enough, anything that could go wrong did go wrong. In Baku, he hit a manhole cover and then the recovery vehicle struck a bridge.
Russell believes these tough experiences will help him become a better driver in the future.
"My goals were quite vague in the sense of just go out there and learn as much as possible and try and maximise every single lap on-track. There’s been sessions or qualifying sessions that I’ve felt like they’ve gone very well, others that haven’t gone as well, and likewise for the race. So I probably wouldn’t change any of it, really, because from the tougher experiences I’ve learnt more from that and it’s definitely helped me become a stronger driver," Russell told RaceFans.net.